(28) Escape - Ancient Sorceries

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode 28: "Escape – Ancient Sorceries"

Original Airdate: August 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features a dramatic broadcast of "Escape," a classic radio thriller based on Algernon Blackwood's story "Ancient Sorceries." Set in a remote Welsh village, the tale follows Arthur Llewellyn, a traveler who finds himself embroiled in a chilling, supernatural mystery. The episode explores themes of otherworldliness, reincarnation, and the dangers of delving into forgotten sorceries, with a thick atmosphere of psychological suspense and gothic horror.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

Arrival in the Village of Malton (02:22–05:48)

• Arthur Llewellyn is compelled to alight spontaneously from his train at a desolate station in Malton, despite a warning from a fellow passenger:

  "If you place any value on your soul, you'll not spend the night here... because of the sleep and because of the cats." — Stranger on Train (03:36)

• At the inn, both the Innkeeper and her daughter Ilse seem to know him, addressing him as if he were a long-lost resident, unsettling Arthur.

The Strange Atmosphere and Townspeople (05:57–09:01)

• Arthur observes the ancient, silent village and its oddly-dressed, eerily quiet inhabitants.
• He is disturbed by haunting music emanating from the misty valley, which stirs something primal within him, alluring yet terrifying.

The Growing Mystery and Ilse's Introduction (11:07–14:54)

• After unnerving encounters and a flirtatious, mysterious meeting with Ilse, Arthur feels the villagers collectively monitoring him:

  "I began to notice that I was never completely alone. If I turned down an empty street, someone always stepped from a doorway ... these people were watching me tensely, as a cat watches a mouse..." — Arthur Llewellyn (15:08)

The Seduction and Transformation (16:41–24:57)

• Ilse grows ever more seductive and insistent, hinting at a long, shared past with Arthur. She encourages him to remember and ultimately rejoin her and the villagers in their "old life."
• On a moonlit night, as Ilse entices Arthur to a mysterious ritual on the rampart, he witnesses the villagers turning into monstrous, human-sized cats.

  "From every window... were leaping great, monstrous beasts with soft dark fur and eyes that gleamed with eerie phosphorescence. Cats. Cats of human size. This, then, was the secret of Malton—lycanthropy." — Arthur Llewellyn (22:19–23:27)

• Ilse urges Arthur to transform and lead them:

  "Will you live the old life again with me tonight?" — Ilse (24:54)

• Arthur, tormented, resists. He sets a fire as a barrier and flees:

  "I turned from the wall of flame... ran through the moonlight streets, not back toward the inn... but down the long road that led away from Malton." — Arthur (25:32–26:16)

Rational Explanation or Unsolved Horror? (26:16–29:39)

• In London, Arthur recounts his ordeal to a psychiatrist, who dismisses it as vivid hallucination triggered by ancestral memories—records show Arthur's namesake was once tried for sorcery in Malton, along with Ilse and her mother.
• Despite the explanation, Arthur retains a mysterious mark with cat-like fur and senses his destiny is unresolved. He requests a one-way ticket back to Malton, suggesting the compulsion endures.

  "Make it one way." — Arthur Llewellyn (29:39)

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Memorable Quotes

• Stranger on the Train:

  "If you place any value on your soul, you'll not spend the night here ... because of the sleep and because of the cats." (03:36)

• Madam/Innkeeper:

  "Arthur Llewellyn. You've been a long time coming back." (05:09)

• Arthur Llewellyn:

  "Who was I? Who were these people? Who was Ilse?" (12:14)

• Ilse:

  "Don't you want to see me again? ... Then we shall have to try that much harder. It's been such a very long time." (12:14, 17:18)

• Arthur (upon seeing the cats):

  "Cats. Cats of human size. This, then, was the secret of Malton—lycanthropy. The witchcraft of centuries long dead and buried." (23:27)

• Doctor:

  "It proves a clear case of hallucination. You knew that story before you went there. Not consciously, but somewhere deep in your latent memory." (27:49)

• Arthur (final line):

  "Make it one way." (29:39)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Opening/Setting the Scene: (01:17–02:22)
• Arthur warned not to get off the train: (02:22–03:36)
• Creepy reception at the Inn: (04:39–05:48)
• Music and first hint of sorcery: (07:30–09:01)
• Arthur meets Ilse in the dark hall: (11:56–12:43)
• Arthur realizes villagers are watching him: (15:08–15:36)
• Ilse seduces Arthur, hints at the past: (16:41–18:04)
• Transformation scene, cats revealed: (22:19–23:30)
• Arthur flees in horror: (25:32–26:16)
• Doctor's explanation and records: (26:16–28:12)
• Arthur's unresolved compulsion: (29:39)

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Tone & Style

The episode is steeped in foreboding and gothic suspense, shifting from psychological unease to supernatural horror. Dialogue is often poetic and laden with double meanings. The tension between rationalism and the inexplicable is maintained to the very end, mirrored in Arthur's uncertain fate and the ambiguous nature of his experience.

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This radio classic is a showcase of the Golden Age’s flair for atmospheric storytelling, blurring reality, memory, and myth in a tale that leaves both the protagonist and listeners questioning the boundaries of sanity and the supernatural.

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Transcript

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[Narrator/Host]

fed up with shoveling snow? Can't shake that cold of yours? Wonder what the world's coming to?

[Escape Show Announcer]

We offer you escape.

[Narrator/Host]

You are alone in a remote village on the Welsh border, surrounded by silent townspeople who are watching and waiting for you to decide to lose your soul.

[Escape Show Announcer]

Escape produced and directed by William N. Robeson and carefully contrived to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.

[Narrator/Host]

Tonight we escape to a remote section of Wales and a strange village between two worlds, as Algernon Blackwood described it in his eerie story Ancient Sorce.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I had spent a week's vacation in Wales and was returning to London by train when it all began. It was late afternoon. We'd left the Welsh mountains and crossed the border into western England, passing through a countryside which appeared singularly empty, deserted of life. Over the soft hills and the valleys between hung a faintly perceptible haze, given to the whole landscape a feeling of enchantment and unreality. The train at length slowed down to a stop at a tiny wayside station. As it did so, a sudden thought occurred to me. Why not leave the crowded train with its irritating noises and spend the night in this peaceful spot, then take a slower and emptier train in the morning? On the impulse, I rose from my seat and the man sitting opposite to why, say, sir, we only stop here for a minute or two. If you're thinking of walking about a bit. No, as a matter of fact, I'm getting off here. I thought you were going to London. I'll go on in the morning. I'M going to stay here for the night. I strongly advise you not to. I beg your pardon. This is the village of Malton. Malton? I've never heard of it. Few people have.

[Narrator/Host]

Outside.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

But if you place any value on your soul, you'll not spend the night here. My dear sir, what are you talking about? Why not? Because of the sleep and because of the cats. That's all I can tell you. You're insane. I'll take my bag if you don't mind. You're making a terrible mistake. You may not even have the chance to regret it. Don't leave this train. I know what I'm talking about. Oh, what utter nonsense. Don't. Don't, I tell you. Goodbye. I stood there on the embankment as the train pulled away. What in the world was the matter with the man anyway? Cats, sleep. His words made no sense. I picked up my bag and started walking up the long hill toward the village. And suddenly, for no reason at all, I shall. Hello? Hello. Is anybody here?

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Yes?

[Escape Show Announcer]

Oh.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, I. I didn't see you at first.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Is there something I can do for you, sir?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why, yes. I. I saw your sign outside the Inn of the Golden Bough. I should like to get a room, please.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

You're planning to stay here?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why, why, yes.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Very well. You may sign the register here.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Thank you. I'm going to catch another train and go on in the morning.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Oh, yes, of course.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

There.

[Narrator/Host]

Well.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Arthur Llewellyn. Llewellyn?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, from London.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Arthur Llewellyn. You've been a long time coming back.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What?

[Madam/Innkeeper]

But now that you're here, you'll find there are some things that never change.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Madam, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. You rang, madam? Where did you come from?

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Don Dreary, the gentleman would like a room for the night. His name is Arthur Llewellyn.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ay, so it is.

[Narrator/Host]

Welcome back to Malton, sir.

[Ilse]

What?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why, I. I knew I'd never been here before. What was it all about? First the man on the train, and now these people. Were they crazy? Or was I? I left the inn and walked along narrow cobbled streets beneath quaint gables leaning out from the silent shuttered houses through dappled pools of light and shadow. It gradually dawned upon me that the village of Malton was centuries old. Older than any town in England ought to be. And the people. The people I passed now and then were. Were dressed in the fashion of another day. They paid no attention to me. They went silently about their own business. Yes, that was it. That's what I'd been noticing. Silently they came and went, with only soft padding sounds to mark their passing, as though they walked in shoes with soles of velvet. When I stopped, there was no sound. The silence was unbroken. I hurried on through the streets and came at last to the far side of the village, to a place where the hill broke away sharply from a low, flat wall of stone. Perhaps a rampart. Once I sat down upon it, and the dreamy, lazy somnolence of the place stole over me. Presently, I don't know how much later, I became aware of the sound of weird music rising out of the veil below me. I looked down from the rampart. The sunken plain at the bottom melted away into a sea of gathering shadow, blurred in a swirl of thickening mist. I thought of dead trees swept by the night wind, of animals with half human voices singing to a white moon, of the wailings of cats on the roof tiles at night, of unearthly creatures far off in the sky, calling to one another in chorus. I felt my heart beat faster and faster, felt the vague stirrings of some urge inside of me trying to answer the awful call of that music. I fought against the feeling, fought against myself. And even as I did, I found I was staring down into that valley, peering desperately into the darkness, trying to see, I don't know what. And then suddenly the music ended. I stood on the rampart alone. Dusk fallen around me and the early night wind moaned with a chill breath. Quick terror rose up in me. I turned and ran through the darkened streets, ran with my heart pounding, dodging its shadows through through one dim alley after another, and arrived at last, panting and almost breathless, at the door of the Golden Bow.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

You've been a long time returning, Mr. Llewellyn. It's past 7.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, yes. Yes, I, I, I guess I walked farther than I meant to. I didn't realize it was so late.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

You heard the music, didn't you?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Strangest music I've ever heard. But how did you know who plays it anyway?

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Then you didn't remember it? No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Why should I? The thing was becoming irritating, this quiet insistence that I was someone else.

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[Arthur Llewellyn]

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[Ilse]

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[Arthur Llewellyn]

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[Arthur Llewellyn]

I went into my lonely dinner and ate as quickly as possible. Then, taking the candle Dandreary gave me, I crossed the lobby, climbed the stairs behind the desk, and walked past silent doors down the long empty hall that led to my room at the end. I was halfway to my door when suddenly the flame of my candle went out. I stood stuck still in the pitch blackness, fumbling for a match. At that moment I knew that someone or something was there with me in the darkness, held my breath and listened. There was no sound, no movement. I reached out and felt the wall and moved along it, feeling my way in the inky blackness. It was then I touched it near my face. Another soft, warm, yielding and alive.

[Ilse]

Oh, what is is I Ilse.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Who?

[Ilse]

Ilse. Don't you remember me, Arthur?

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No.

[Ilse]

But wouldn't you like to remember me? Don't you want to see me again? To look at me now? Why?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't know.

[Ilse]

But not tonight, Arthur. Perhaps tomorrow. Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Tomorrow.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I stumbled blindly through the door of my room and shut it behind me. I lit the candle and flung myself across the bed. The room was small, with one shuttered window, and the light of the flame flickered on the walls and ceiling. I stared at the hand that had touched her out there in the dark hall. I lifted it up to my face and smelled of the barbaric scent that still clung to my fingers. It was evil, maddening. The candle sputtered and burned, and the melted minutes dripped away. Who was I? Who were these people? Who was Ilse? I fell asleep finally and dreamed of soft, moving creatures and the silence of life in a dim, muffled world devoid of all feeling but ecstasy. And I dreamed, too, of cats. You slept quite late this morning, Mr. Llewellyn.

[Ilse]

Huh?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, morning, Dundreary. I. I felt as if I'd been drugged. The night air here in Morton is very conducive to sleep. I. I'd meant to catch the morning train for London. Now it's too late. What a terrible shame. Oh, by the way, Dundrulli. Yes, Mr. Duane? Do you. I mean, well, I was wondering if. If you'd know anyone by the name of Ilse.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Ilse happens to be my daughter, Mr. Llewellyn.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Oh, I. I didn't hear you come in.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

I hope you were able to sleep well without any unpleasant dreams.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I guess so.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

I'm so happy to hear it. Perhaps then you may decide to stay with us for a long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

That's. That's very kind of you.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

No, it isn't kindness, Mr. Llewellyn, but all of us are hoping that you may decide soon.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Decide? Decide what? It was no use. None of them would answer my questions. They seemed to think I should know already. I left the inn as soon as I'd eaten, walked around the streets of the village, and I began to notice that I was never completely alone. If I turned down an empty street, someone always stepped from a doorway or entered from the opposite end. Wherever I went. Within five minutes, a dozen people were strolling near me, and I realized these people were watching me tensely, as a cat watches a mouse or another cat. It's quite fortunate you came back early, Mr. Llewellyn. Your dinner this evening is a rather special one. Special? What do you mean by that? You are to have a guest. Who? An old friend. She's coming now. The girl who came toward us across the room was lithe and slim, and she moved with the sinuous grace of a young panther. She was lovely, exotic, and terrifyingly beautiful. May I present Ms. Dorothy Llewellyn Mesilza. He's been with us for two days.

[Ilse]

Yes, I know. My mother told me. May I Sit down, Mr. Llewellyn?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Mm. Oh. Oh, yes, please do. Here. Permit me.

[Ilse]

Thank you, miss.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Thank you, Miss. Ilsa, then you're Ilsa?

[Ilse]

Yes. Don't you remember me, Father?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

From last night. It was you last night, wasn't it?

[Ilse]

Yes. And other nights. Can't you remember all the other nights?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No.

[Ilse]

No. Then we shall have to try that much harder. It's been such a very long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Please, Ilse. What is it all of you talk about? I. I don't understand any of it.

[Ilse]

You will, Arthur. Unless you leave, of course. Weren't you planning to take a train to London in the morning?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, I've changed my mind.

[Ilse]

I'm glad you did. We'll try to make you happy here, my mother and I. And then perhaps you'll stay a long, long time.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, I must leave for sure, in a day or two.

[Ilse]

Suppose we wait and see. And meanwhile, if there's anything you want, all you have to do is ask me.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

All right. Why don't you tell me about.

[Ilse]

Yes, Arthur. About what?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No. No, I don't want to know. I. I don't want you to tell me. Suddenly I realized I was afraid to know. Afraid I should leave now. But I couldn't leave. It was Ilse. She attracted, repelled, fascinated and horrified me, all in single flashes of blasting emotion. I felt the presence of a great gray curtain ready to roll back at any moment and leave me on the brink of an awful adventure. I knew the village held its breath, watched and waited. And then, on the evening of the fifth day, the whole ghastly secret exploded into hideous life. After dinner, Ilse had asked me to walk with her. It was the first time I'd been outside the inn. After dark, we walked through the village in the moonlight, saying little, and came finally to the stone rampart above the sunken pl. We were quite alone.

[Ilse]

Look, Arthur, it's a full moon tonight. Do you know what that means?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. It means I can see more clearly how beautiful you are.

[Ilse]

Do you really believe that? Do you think I'm beautiful?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Like a soft, sleek leopard in a warm jungle of shadows. But wait, I'll see you even better in a moment.

[Ilse]

Arthur, what are you doing?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

These dry leaves by the wall, they'll make an excellent bonfire. There. There, you see?

[Ilse]

No. No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What's wrong?

[Ilse]

The fire. No, Arthur, put it out.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

All right, Ilse, don't worry. It's all right. But I had a chance to get started. There, you see? It's all out.

[Ilse]

Yes, I see.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ilser, why did it bother you so much?

[Ilse]

Don't you remember? Don't you remember the fire?

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What fire?

[Ilse]

Oh, no, don't talk of it. Look at me instead. Look at me, Arthur.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, Ilse.

[Ilse]

Arthur, do you love me?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Yes, Ilse, I love you. I love You. And I want you.

[Ilse]

I'm glad. That means you'll come back to us, then.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't know what you mean.

[Ilse]

Ilse, you can know everything tonight if you want to.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, I do. I do.

[Ilse]

You must know a part of it already, down inside. You must remember some of it, don't you?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. It's like something buried for centuries inside of me. And now it's beginning to come alive.

[Ilse]

Let it come alive. Don't fight against it. You belonged to us once, long ago. And you still belong.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, I seem to know that.

[Ilse]

That's why you came back. You heard them calling. You heard me calling and you came seeking the old life again.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, but.

[Escape Show Announcer]

Ilse.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Ilse, I'm afraid.

[Ilse]

Are you afraid of me?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Look at me, Ilse.

[Ilse]

Kiss me. Yes, sir. Will you live the old life again with me tonight? Yes. Yes, I've known that you would. Because I own you, Arthur. You belong to me and I want you. And I shall never let you escape from me again. Yes. Yes. Go back to the inn, then. Wait for me, Arthur. I shall come for you tonight.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Back at the inn, I paced the floor of my room, a tense, uncontrollable excitement driving me along in a nervous frenzy. The dry crypt of memory broke open and all the things I'd hidden away for centuries poured into my consciousness. I knew now why I'd come here. I knew what I was going to do. And I knew that I was lost. I sensed the rising stir of movement throughout the inn and outside in the courtyard below my window. I knew what to expect when I threw open the shutter. From every window of the inn and from those of the houses about the court were leaping great, monstrous beasts with soft dark fur and eyes that gleamed with eerie phosphorescence. Cats. Cats of human size. This, then, was the secret of molten lycanthropy. The witchcraft of centuries long dead and buried. The half human Christ floated up to me and the moon cast their dark shadows on the ground as they padded across the courtyard and vanished through the narrow streets of the village, heading for a hideous rendezvous. This is what I'd been. This is what I wanted to be.

[Madam/Innkeeper]

Now

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I scarcely heard the door of my room open behind me.

[Ilse]

Are you ready? Shall we join them, Ilsa? Here, Arthur. The sacred bomb made of a vein and mistletoe and blind things out of the sea. Remember?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes. Yes, I remember.

[Ilse]

Take it. Use it. We'll change now. Transform. Leap from the window and join them. Lead us again, Arthur.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, but not here, Elsa. Not yet. Wait until we get there. Then we'll change.

[Ilse]

If you wish. Come then, Arthur, to the stone wall above the grove. That's where we'll change. On the stone rampart.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

In the grove, on the sunken plain beneath the wall. Insane shadows writhed in the moonlight and postured in the luminous mist. A thousand of the devil's own were dancing in the unearthly music born from the harmony of the black sacrifice, crying out in delirious abandon calling to the thing that now lived inside of me and struggled, screaming in my skull, trying to answer them back. I fought against them, fought against Ilse, pleading and clinging with her soft arms about my neck.

[Ilse]

Now, now, Arthur. Come with me now if you love me.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I love you. But I can't do it. I can't do it. Not again.

[Ilse]

Yes, my love. Only an instant, a change. And then we'll live forever.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Is it living without a soul?

[Ilse]

Does it matter when I'm here? No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Once before, I escape. But I can never escape again. This time there'd be no turning back.

[Ilse]

Am I not worth it? Look at me. Look at me, my love.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I clung to the very edge of my sanity, thought that I would not be lost and damned forever. And at this moment, at this moment, I knew, knew what I could do.

[Ilse]

Arthur, wait. What are you doing?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I found a match in my pocket, struck and dropped it into the dry leaves that lay banked across the whole length of the stone wall.

[Ilse]

No.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

No, Arthur, don't.

[Ilse]

Yes. I can't come to you through the fire.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

You're driving me away. Yes, go. Go, Elsa. Go into the valley. Goodbye, Ilse. Goodbye. You fall. You fall. I turned from the wall of flame that for a few minutes would shut me off from the valley, ran through the moonlight streets, not back toward the Inn of the Golden Bower, but down the long road that led away from that cursed village of Mal.

[Narrator/Host]

Well, Mr. Llewellyn, I find this one of the most interesting cases of hallucination I've encountered since I began the practice of psychiatry.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I tell you, it really happened, Doctor.

[Narrator/Host]

And having investigated your story a bit during the past week, I'm in a position now to answer most of the questions that have been worrying you since you came back to London.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

What do you mean, investigated?

[Narrator/Host]

I went up to Hereford and looked over some of the old records there. Then I motored over to Malton for a couple of hours.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Well, then you know it's all true. You saw it. You know I was there.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, there's no question. But what? You were there, Mr. Llewelyn. The lady who runs the inn showed me your name in the register. Said you left suddenly without taking your luggage or paying your bill. She was really quite put out.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I. I see. Well. Well, what of the records, Doctor? The ones you spoke of?

[Narrator/Host]

I think they really explain the whole thing, Mr. Llewellyn. It seems that during the 14th century, the village of Malton became a kind of headquarters in that part of the country for the practice of witchcraft.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, yes, go on.

[Narrator/Host]

Numerous trials were held there in the late 1300s, and a great many men and women were convicted of sorcery and burned to death.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes.

[Narrator/Host]

In the records of a trial in 1372, I found the name of an Arthur Llewellyn and of Ilse and her mother.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

That proves it, then.

[Narrator/Host]

It proves a clear case of hallucination. You knew that story before you went there. Not consciously, but somewhere deep in your latent memory.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I knew nothing about it before.

[Narrator/Host]

That man was an ancestor of yours. The story must be known in your family. When you arrived in Malton accidentally, the association of the name just pulled the trigger. And your imagination did the rest.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, but Doctor, my parents died when I was four. I've never been around any of my family, ever.

[Narrator/Host]

No matter. You see, a childhood memory is amazingly persistent at times.

[Ilse]

Yes.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Yes, I suppose it is. I knew then what I had to do. The only thing I could do. There'd be no use in talking further with the Doctor. He'd find some phrase of science to cover everything. He'd even tried to explain away the mark I still carried across my shoulder where Ilse had thrown her arm about me in those last mad minutes on the rampart. A mark that was covered with soft gray fur, like the fur of a cat. I knew now what had to be done and what must be done, while I still retain my sanity. One last act, final and irrevocable. An act that begins by walking into the railway station and cheering. Cross. Good evening, sir. May I help you? Yes, yes, I. I'd like a ticket to Malton, please.

[Escape Show Announcer]

Malton?

[Arthur Llewellyn]

I don't believe I. It's a little village on the Swansea line near the border of Wales. Oh, yes, yes, here it is. I don't believe I've ever sold a ticket to Morton before. I don't doubt it. Let's see. 4 and 6, single fare, first class. Did you wish a return trip, sir, or one way? What did you say? Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Make it one way.

[Escape Show Announcer]

Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson and tonight brought you Ancient Sorceries by Algernon Blackwood. Adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield with Paul Fries as Arthur Llewellyn, Kay Brinker as Ilsa, Anne Morrison as Madam, and William Conrad as the Doctor. Music is conceived and conducted by Cy Fuhrer. Next week,

[Narrator/Host]

after you've had a hard day at the office or bending over a hot stove, next week at this time when your problems seem too much for you, we offer you escape.

[Escape Show Announcer]

Next week we bring you another exciting story of high adventure. Good night, then, until the same time next week, when once again, we offer you escape. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System,

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[Arthur Llewellyn]

B-I-R-I-E.com Queen Carvania stood haloed by the morning sun. An army hung on her every word.

[Ilse]

My champions, I have sold my chariot on Carvana.

[Arthur Llewellyn]

Twas a lovely suv, an inexplicably queenly offer. They're even coming to the castle to collect it. Tonight we feast. An offer you can feast on. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.